Grizzly kills mum, tot
A MOTHER and her 10month-old daughter were mauled to death by a grizzly bear at a remote cabin in Canada while the 37-year-old woman was on her maternity leave, officials said.
The bodies of Valerie Theoret and her daughter Adele Roesholt were discovered around 3pm on Monday after the child’s father, Gjermund Roesholt, returned to the Yukon cabin in northwest Canada only to have a grizzly bear charge at him, CBC News reported.
Fox News reports that Mr Roesholt shot and killed the animal before discovering Ms Theoret and their daughter dead outside.
“It appears they (Theoret and Adele) had been out for a walk when the incident occurred, sometime between 10am and 3pm,” the Yukon coroner’s office said.
The family had been spending the last three months at the cabin trapping animals at Einarson Lake, CBC News reported.
Remy Beaupre, a friend of Ms Theoret, said the schoolteacher was on maternity leave.
“It was the plan all along to go there and spend a lot of time there, but Valerie couldn’t really take a lot of time off because she was a teacher,” Mr Beaupre told the news site.
“Being on her maternity leave, now was the opportunity for them to all go as a family. So they just took their baby and went out on the trap line.”
Mr Beaupre said the couple, who bought the cabin three years ago, was “well-prepared” for incidents.
“It’s a big, big blow. Everybody is totally devastated right now,” Mr Beaupre said.
Officials are investigating.